The role of industrial archaeology in conservation: The Reşiţa area of the Romanian Carpathians

Industrial archaeology has developed as an important aspect of conservation during the second half of the twentieth century in the Western world and there have been great opportunities in transition countries since 1989 on account of economic restructuring and the importance given to 'niche' tourism. While the core interest lies with machines and industrial buildings, attention is also given to transport systems and the social context, with respect to relations between owners, managers and workers. Moreover, the desirability of maintaining old industrial installations within their traditional landscape settings enables industrial archaeology to make a contribution to sustainable development. This paper considers the prospects for Romania, with particular reference to the Reşiţa area of the Banat Carpathians. The mineral resources of this region gave rise to a metallurgical industry which was established under Habsburg administration in the eighteenth century and continues today. In addition to the principal factories in Anina and Reşiţa, the mining installations, transport systems and power stations contribute to a diverse industrial region in a distinctive physical and cultural setting. The development of the complex is summarised and the opportunities for conservation are evaluated. The tourist infrastructure of the area is also examined with regard to the range of accommodation available. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Early and Middle Pleistocene landscapes of eastern England

This paper reviews the pattern of climate and environmental change in eastern England over the period of the Early and Middle Pleistocene, focussing especially upon northern East Anglia. Particular attention is given to the climate and tectonics that have brought about these changes and the distinctive geology, topography and biology that has developed. Throughout, an attempt is made to describe the new models that have been proposed for the Early and Middle Pleistocene of eastern England, and explain the reasons for these changes. The Early Pleistocene experienced relatively high insulation and relatively low magnitude climatic change and is represented primarily by non-climatically forced processes in the form of tidal current- and wave-activity which formed shallow marine deposits. It is possible to recognise a tectonic control in the distribution of deposits of this age because the surface processes do not have the power to remove this signature. The early Middle Pleistocene was dominated by higher magnitude climatic change involving, occasionally, climatic extremes that ranged from permafrost to mediterranean. The landscape at this time was dominated by the behaviour of major rivers (Thames, Bytham, Ancaster) and extensive coastal activity. In the latter part of the early Middle Pleistocene and the Late Middle Pleistocene the climate experienced major changes which resulted in periods of lowland glaciation and short intervals when the climate was warmer than the present. Details of tectonic activity are difficult to identify because they are removed by powerful surface processes, but it is possible to infer uplift focussed on the major interfluves of central England and subsidence in the North Seas basin. In the areas of glaciation the landscape changed radically from an organised terrain dominated by large rivers and extensive shallow coastal zones to complex, with small valleys, disrupted drainage and often discontinuous river, slope and coastal deposits. Likewise the switching off of the North Sea Delta and the opening of the Strait of Dover, separating Britain from continental Europe can be attributed to the onset of lowland glaciation. The case is made that eastern England was glaciated four times during the Middle Pleistocene: during MIS 16, 12, 10 and 6, and attention is given to recent evidence contradicting this model. Over the period of the Middle Pleistocene there is evidence for high biomass production occurring over short intervals coinciding with the climatic optima of MIS 19, 17, 15, 13, 11, and 7c, 7a and during most of these warmer periods, extending back to c. 750 ka (MIS 19/17), there is evidence in the region for the brief appearance of humans.     

Towards a budget approach to Pleistocene terraces: preliminary studies using the River Exe in South West England, UK

This paper presents a first approach to using a sediment budget methodology for paired terrace staircase sediments in SW England. Although a budget approach has become firmly established in Holocene fluvial studies, it has not been used in Pleistocene sequences due to the problems of temporal resolution, catchment changes and downstream loss from the system. However, this paper uses a budget approach in a paired non-glaciated basin, primarily as a method of interrogating the terrace record concerning the degree of reworking and new sediment input required to produce the reconstructed terrace sequences. In order to apply a budget approach a number of assumptions have to be made and these are justified in the paper. The results suggest that the Exe system can most parsimoniously be explained principally by the reworking of a Middle Pleistocene floodplain system with relatively little input of new resistant clasts required and a cascade-type model in geomorphological terms. Whilst this maybe partially a result of the specific geology of the catchment, it is likely to be representative of many Pleistocene terrace systems in NW Europe due to their litho-tectonic similarities. This cascade-type model of terrace formation has archaeological implications and sets the context for the Palaeolithic terrace record in the UK. Future work will involve the testing of this and similar budget models using a combination of landscape modelling and chronometric dating.     

公元前7年内蒙古包头地区8级地震的初步研究

公元前7年11月11日(汉成帝绥和二年九月丙辰)地震, 由于历史文献记载的不确定性, 长期存在分歧, 也没有学者开展过调查研究, 中国地震目录均未收入. 考古发现包头市麻池周边汉代部分木椁墓中木椁四周填塞的碎砖瓦陶片及文字瓦当, 是房屋毁坏以后的建筑垃圾和日用陶器残片的混合物, 这些房屋是在公元前52年(甘露二年)到公元前33年(竞宁元年)以后在麻池古城(汉五原郡)建成的. 上述房屋的毁坏发生在西汉晚期的墓葬稍前. 房屋毁坏的原因, 可排除自然因素、 战争及人为破坏, 更可能是由于突发性的地震灾害所致. 公元前7年地震正好发生在这一时期, 并使北边郡国30余处坏城郭, 凡压杀400余人. 根据木椁四周填塞碎砖瓦陶片的汉墓分析, 麻池古城房屋、 殿堂遭受严重破坏, 死亡人数达200人以上, 地震及其它天灾人祸, 使麻池古城逐渐衰退, 最后荒废. 结合大青山山前断裂所形成的距今2 000年前的地震形变带遗迹综合分析, 公元前7年11月11日地震宏观震中在麻池一带, 震中烈度为Ⅹ度, 震级达8级, 命名为内蒙古包头8级地震.     

中国北方地区旧石器时代环境考古学研究进展

旧石器时代环境考古学以研究旧石器时代人类与环境相互作用关系(过去人地关系)为目标,随着材料积累、科学技术进步和研究方法发展,中国北方地区的旧石器时代环境考古学研究在最近三十年发展显著。从古人类对地质资源、石料资源和动植物资源的开发、利用策略角度回顾了相关研究成果,综述了古人类对环境变化事件的响应和行为适应研究,并分别从迁移适应和技术适应两个方面进行了讨论,指出旧石器时代环境考古学的发展需要考古学家与古环境研究学者开展密切合作。     

Volcanology,history and myths of the Lake Albano maar (Colli Albani volcano,Italy)

The polygenetic Albano maar is the most recent centre of the Colli Albani volcano, located just few kilometres to the south-east of Roma. Presently the maar hosts a 167.5 m deep crater lake, the deepest in Europe. The maar is to be considered quiescent, as phreatic activity is documented throughout the Holocene. This paper illustrates the close relationships between the activity of the maar and the history of settlement in the Roman region as recorded in the geology, archaeology, history and legends of the area. Severe fluctuations of the groundwater table and catastrophic overflows of the Lake Albano from the maar rim had occurred prior to and after the early prehistoric settlements dated in the maar area at the Eneolithic times (ca. III millennium B.C.). Repeated lahars occurred along the northwestern slope of the maar filling in the paleodrainage network and forming a vast plain. Paleohydraulic analyses on fluvial and lahar deposits originated from the Holocene phreatic activity of the Albano maar indicate sediment–water flows in excess of hundreds of cubic metres per second. Absolute age determinations of the paleosoil underlying one of the most recent deposits of the lahar succession at 5800 ± 100 yr B.P. (¹⁴C CAL) are in perfect agreement with the age of the overlying Eneolithic age settlements. The last catastrophic overflow is described in the Roman literature as a consequence of the anger of Poseidon against the Romans in 398 B.C. for their war against the Etruscans. In 394 B.C. the Romans decided to prevent the repetition of such events by the excavation through the maar crater wall of a 1.5 km long drain tunnel, which is still operational, keeping the lake 70 m below the lowest point of the maar rim. This tunnel drain may be regarded as the first prevention device for volcanic hazard in history and shows an unprecedented development of the engineering technology under the pressure of hazard perception. The surprising and still largely unknown results of this study are very important to redefine the hazard of the Roman region.     

环境考古视角下的丝绸之路早期城址:从河西走廊到中亚

根据年代和考古遗址的空间分布,对河西走廊东部民勤三角城、金昌三角城,新疆的奎玉克协海尔古城,以及中亚的Kyzyl tepa古城的年代、形状、筑造方式等做了对比,并分析了不同时期的古城址和同区域的考古文化遗址之间的空间关系.结果 表明,这3个地区的古城址大致形成于相近的时代,且都是就地取材,充分利用原始的地势而筑城.城墙...     

姜寨一期文化遗迹属性数据的关联规则挖掘研究

在基于Apriori算法的单维布尔关联规则基础上,以姜寨遗址主要遗迹的属性数据为研究对象,利用该算法对姜寨一期文化遗迹的属性数据进行了关联挖掘分析。首先进行房屋遗迹属性的关联挖掘,然后进行土坑葬等的属性数据挖掘,找到了聚落遗址属性数据之间隐含的关系,为聚落考古遗址的资料分析提供了一种新技术。